This week, WWE executives Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were at the Needham Interconnect Conference for investors in New York City and took part in a “Fireside Chat” with Senior Business Analyst Laura Martin, with one one of the topics discussed of UFC as a competitor to WWE.

Triple H explained how he feels the two companies are different entities and doesn’t feel UFC is a competitor to WWE.

“They aren’t really a competitor to us and I explain this to our talent this way in the Performance Center and every time I say it people will say to me oh, that made it very clear for me: people like UFC, they like boxing, but it’s completely different from what we are. We are like the movie Rocky. We’re a story. We’re a great story that just happens to take place sometimes in the wrestling ring, so if you think about us less of Floyd Mayweather in a boxing match which you’ll watch one time and on pay-per-view and then once that fight’s over it’s kind of done, you know, and you’re really not going to go back and watch it a bunch of times unless you’re a connoisseur of boxing science, you’re gonna watch it one time. But Rocky the movie you will watch over and over and over again. It’s the story, it’s the characters. Boxing is irrelevant to the movie really. It’s a triumph story, it’s a love story, it’s all those things and that’s what we do. We create characters that you gravitate towards, that you connect with, that you passionately engage with, you believe in on a visceral level, whether you hate them or love them. We put them in unique storylines with creative passions and good guys and bad guys and the drama and sometimes love throws. We were married and divorced once on TV long before we did it for real, you know? It was a dry run, that’s why it works so well, we got it out of our system. You know, you have all those components, but that’s what makes us so successful and at the end of the day that’s what makes the Network successful because while a sport, who is gonna go back to watch the Superbowl from ’84? Yeah, right, unless you’re a massive technical football fan! Or who’s gonna go back and watch boxing from five years ago, you’re not, or UFC, it’s the same thing, it’s the same component. But our product is evergreen, because its the characters and the stories that you engage in, that’s what makes a passionate fan of the WWE and it’s lifelong, because even if you move away from it, even if you become a lapsed fan, you get out of college, you don’t have a lot of free time anymore, you get a job, you have kids, you do all those things, and now all of a sudden your kids start to watch, and you get on the Network and you start to watch the Attitude Era or the ’80s, that Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and The Ultimate Warrior that you watched when you were a kid and all that emotion comes flooding back to you and it’s something that you don’t put down, that you don’t walk away from, it’s always there and it’s very easy to get hooked back into it to watch it again.”

Below was Stephanie McMahon’s take on the comparison:

“In addition to that with UFC you can pay money to watch a pay-per-view and it can be a terrible fight. Right? The guy you were really rooting for that UFC has been building as a star gets knocked right off and suddenly that person doesn’t really matter anymore and all that investment is lost. You never have that with WWE. We strategically build all of our Superstars and characters and we know when they are going to win and we know when they are going to lose. Uh, we do! [audience laughs] And we build characters and make them these megastars, it’s all very intentional and you’re guaranteed to get your money’s worth. It might not necessarily be the outcome you want, but you’re guaranteed to have a great match, to have a great pay-per-view and you’re guaranteed to be entertained.”

They still showcase them every week n ppv n still get paid contractually n on those nights. That’s not an actual lost. While boxers wind up not being on a card any longer or on a ppv for a very long time n have fights not even televised. That’s not the case with ziggler n Sandow. Cough…cough…

And also, if all is lost u wouldn’t still be rooting for those two would you? Would not hear the chants “let’s go ziggler” or “we want ziggler” in a tag match. Cough…cough…

ryan

Ha

BBJ

I just wrestling was back to how it was when I was growing up. When u had actual rivalries looking forward to watching. When the title meant something. Hmph Now the wrestlers are just cry babies and the announcers are not making the matches interesting anymore. JBL is doing a great job but Lawler and Cole just makes it so boring. Smh

Robbie Murphy

lol exact same work Sly used 25 yrs ago to describe what Rocky was really about, and he waffles about poor matches in UFC, please as does he forget the worst main event in PPV history Brook v Golberg WM20 or almost every match superman is in. And he talks about UFC and a person could lose a match and “that person doesn’t really matter anymore and all that investment is lost” cough Ziggler, cough Sandow

TheFizPop

No competition as UFC is for the adult audience and wwe is PG, its that simple. People moan soo much about wwe’s content, well its not for the attitude era people now, nor adults. wwe is very much a joke now, so just roll with the lols. I watch it now as guilty pleasure and find humour in most of the things